Some people will do just about anything to live the high life without having to work for a living in this day and age. That is the reason why I was not surprised to hear of a women who is making £39,192 a year in benefits just by having children. Cheryl Prudham currently has eleven with another on the way. Her husband works as a delivery man with an annual salary of £19,200, so this means the family income is £58,392.

Prudham Family Shopping

It is reported they went on holiday to Menorca last year that cost the tax payer £7,000, but that is not all. The family were recently photographed shopping at a luxury goods store where it is said she bought a handbag for £895, not the sort of thing your average wife could afford. They even had the gall to be photographed in front of the store and stood proudly posing for the camera. Some people have no shame these days.

The Prudham’s

They are currently living in a five-bedroom council house but are waiting to get one with seven bedrooms because the current one is too cramped. The family have managed to avoid the Government’s £26,000-a-year benefits cap because Mr Prudham works enough hours to claim working tax credit.

There are millions of people in Britain today who can barely make ends meet, and yet these benefit fraudsters are living the high life by cheating the tax payer. This to me is scandalous and means that the rules desperately need to be changed.

Headlines – But Not Enough To Spur The Government Into AcTion

This kind of thing is happening all over Britain today and is bleeding the coffers dry, because the rules are too lax and these free-loaders soon find out they can have a good life without even having to work for it.

There are without doubt many such cases in the U.K. today, for we are deep into a period where everyone expects something for nothing. In fact many believe it is their God-given right, and being a ‘benefit cheat’ has become a way of life for many. This covers all areas of benefits from those who will not work to those with disabilities. The days of everyone ‘doing their bit’ for the good of the nation and their families are long gone, and we are a sadder nation because of it.

The gap between the ‘have’s and have not’s’ is increasing year on year and we blame corruption at the higher levels for this. But when you look at the facts, many of those at the lower levels are no different. Ever since the last Labour government came into power Britain’s debt has steadily increased and it will never be put right so long as the current generation constantly expect something for nothing.

Come the election in May, I hope whoever gets in will put a stop to this blatant fraud. Mind you, I am not holding my breath on that one!

Daily we hear of the British Justice System failing to do its job, which to my mind is to deter criminals from their lifestyle, but once again it has failed.

Janet Curtis – Benefit Cheat

This time its about a 64 year-old woman called Janet Curtis from Clacton who cheated the benefit system out of £140,000. She claimed benefits from the district council and the Department for Work and Pensions, saying that rheumatoid arthritis meant that she could not walk more than three metres without extreme discomfort. According to her she was wheel-chair bound.

On top of that she claimed she was unable to function independently and required 24-hour care, so she received additional benefit because she needed a live-in carer and therefore needed an additional bedroom.
Curtis continued to falsely claim housing and council tax benefits for her former home in Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, for more than a decade after moving out and living with her partner in Clacton, the council said.

Doreen Savage, the council’s cabinet member for housing, said: “This was one of the most prolonged and serious cases of fraud which our investigators have ever had to deal with. Curtis’s web of deceit stretched back to the 1990s and only stopped when she was caught”.

Curtis Water-Skiing

She enjoyed lavish foreign holidays including one in Florida where she was filmed water-skiing. Water skiing ? Not bad for someone with crippling arthritis! When the video clip was discovered she was arrested for fraud and charged.

But this is where the justice system failed yet again. The judge reviewing the case in the Ipswich Crown Court found her guilty and promptly sentenced her to an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and a six-month curfew order. A suspended sentence? What a ridiculous farce, and I might add, what use is a curfew order? Is that so she cannot go on a water-skiing holiday for six months? I call this sentence pathetic.

What further annoys me is there is no mention of regaining the misbegotten gains she made defrauding the tax payer. Why does she not at least have to do community work for free as some form of recompense for the money she stole? Her house should be taken from her and sold to help repay all that she cheated out of the system, but no, she gets off almost Scot free.

I fail to see how judgments such as this are likely to stop other people who wish to, or are doing the same thing. The country has people who barely have money for food, and old age pensioners who have to choose between heating and food to survive throughout the winter, and this woman gets away with cheating the system of £140,000 for more than ten years. There are people serving a prison sentence for not paying their TV licence and yet this evil woman gets away with it. It’s preposterous!

The only way this country is going stop this kind of crime is to hand out stiff sentences. I can only guess the judge took pity on her because of her age, but that is no excuse. Sad to say, the current legal system in the UK is far from a deterrent, in fact sentences are so light it encourages people to break the law for they have no fear of the consequences.

Let us hope that at some time in the future Justice will get back to what it should be.

David Cameron has at last set out a whole raft of measures to combat the criminal misuse of public money in supporting immigrants who take advantage of Britain’s benefits system. The previous Labour government opened up the gates, and allowed a flood of individuals from foreign parts to come to Britain and live off the tax payer. Now finally, measures have been proposed to ‘stem the flood’. And about time too!

The Prime Minister proposes curbs on social housing, welfare, and health tourism among others, which will make it difficult for anyone to take advantage of the system. I hope he gets it right.

In what other country do you receive child benefits for children still living in your homeland? In what other country can you have more right to social housing over inhabitants from that country? In what other country can you get treatment for illnesses for free? The answer is none!

But such was the policy of Tony Blair and his band of crooks who initiated this policy in Britain. It is scandalous to say the least. That the British people should be robbed of housing, made to pay benefits for individuals living outside the country, and cough up for any individual from a foreign country who needs medical treatment is the most outrageous thing I have ever heard.

There are of course many more areas that are under scrutiny by the present government, and I for one hope they will push it all through as quickly as possible, for it is time to stop the rot and let common sense take over before the country, and more important, the people, are bled dry!

There is concern over what the European Union will say of these measures, but considering we have the most comprehensive system in the whole of Europe, and none of the other nations give away money to foreigners like we do, if they object, I would simply tell them to take their objections and shove ’em where the sun don’t shine!

A new government proposal to reform the current system of doctors handing out sick notes for long and short-term illness is on the cards, and it’s well overdue. For decades people have been able to go to their local GP and obtain the necessary piece of paper that allows them to take time off work and still get paid, either by their employer or the government.

There is Evidence Enough

While many sick notes are legitimate, there are millions that are nothing more than an excuse for the work-shy to lounge around and live off benefits. This has to stop, and the government is looking at ways to curb this criminality. For it is criminal when a person lives off the back of the tax payer when capable of doing a job of work and paying taxes. But such is the decline in moral standards these days, that many people are always looking for something for nothing, while fully capable of going out and earning it for themselves.

Doctors’ Dilemma

Many family doctors find it hard to keep up with the ever-increasing flow of patients in their surgeries, and most I’m sure just sign a sick note without a proper examination these days. It is therefore difficult to lay the blame at their door.

It is a medical fact that many incapacitating illnesses are difficult to diagnose, or in fact disprove, like certain back-pain for example. Wily work dodgers know this and are adept at working the system.

Dept. For Works and Pensions

According to information released by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), around 140 million work days a year are lost to sickness, which is costing a massive £15 billion in lost economic output in the UK annually. The bill for short term illness has to be paid by the employer, but those with long-term sickness must be supported by the state. The DWP figures indicate that the cost to employers comes out at around £9 billion, while the state pays out a massive £130 billion annually in sickness benefits.

Now, as I have previously said, many claims are legitimate, for we cannot all be healthy all the time, but the government hopes to employ a method that will hopefully cut back on those who ‘milk’ the system.

The proposal is that a local GP will only be allowed to issue sick notes for a period not exceeding four weeks, after that the claimant can be made to attend an independent panel of doctors by his/her employer to certify their illness. If you are genuinely sick you should have nothing to fear, but those ‘trying it on’ will hopefully have a tougher time. To me, this seems an excellent idea, considering some 300,000 people a year drop out of work to live on benefits long-term.

Many people may require some months ‘on the sick’ after perhaps a car or work-related accident, and the honest ones will be back at work as soon as they are fit enough. They deserve applause, but for the scroungers it is nothing more than an excuse to get out of working for a living. With luck the new system will ‘winkle out’ these parasites and get them back to being productive members of society once again.

Disability Need Not Stop You Working

Some people are getting benefits because they are permanently incapacitated in one way or another, but that does not preclude them from doing some form of work that suits their affliction. Just because a person is in a wheelchair does not stop them from working. There are many jobs suited to such people, and they should be integrated back into society and given the opportunity to contribute.

I am glad to see an administration with the balls to tackle this problem that has festered unchecked under the previous Labour government. It is way past time!

Roy.

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Roy Peters

Welcome to News, Views and Nonsense.

Hi, and welcome!
I can hardly believe this blog is now more than five years old, for it seems like only yesterday when I took my first hesitant steps. A lot has happened in that time, and I must say it has been a great pleasure to write about, and discuss with visitors all the momentous happenings around the world.
Whether you are a frequent visitor, or someone who just dropped by, I hope you will come back, for you are always welcome.

Now that I am a 'Gentleman of Leisure' I have time to indulge in my hobby of writing short stories. I do it for my own pleasure and not for accolades. Although I recently had offers to publish some of them, I found the cost of publication far too much and unfortunately had to decline.
PLEASE NOTE: The stories have now been removed from my blog and published on Amazon for Kindle readers.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ARE ON KINDLE ARE: No Time For Mourning - A day in the life of Battle Of Britain Squadron.
Flight of the Rusty Bucket - A bomber crew take on a dangerous raid over Germany.
The Will To Survive - The desperate struggle for survival on a contaminated Earth in 2050.
Rescue Mission. A sequel to The Will To Survive. Our hero, along with two companions, undertakes a dangerous rescue mission.
Escape from the Taliban - An SAS team are captured and must escape a vicious Taliban leader.
The Sinking of the Rodney Star - The desperate days of WW2 Atlantic convoys.
Deadly Duel - The massacre of American troops in the Ardenne
Strike By Night - Commando raid just after D-Day 1944
Code-name Falcon - A WW2 French resistance story
Hell's Valley - The continuing battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Lifeboat - The crew of a sunken WW2 convoy vessel fight to survive the merciless Atlantic ocean.
A Refugee's Story - The desperate journey of hope for a Somalian refugee.
Secret of the Golden Sphinx - Murder and intrigue in Ancient Egypt.
Alien City - Two young people stumble upon a secret alien city.
They cost only $0.99 or equivalent so feel free to browse on the Kindle Store webpage.
Roy.

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